<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The Soulmate Chronicles by spiderdust</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29546046">The Soulmate Chronicles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiderdust/pseuds/spiderdust'>spiderdust</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:53:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,101</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29546046</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiderdust/pseuds/spiderdust</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When you met your soulmate, your soul flourished - for it had met its other half. It was complete.</p><p>However. If your other half happened to pass away before you were wed, you were burdened with eternal life - in the hope your soul would find its second chance. Its second soulmate.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark/Pepper Potts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Soulmate Chronicles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When you met your soulmate, your soul flourished - for it had met its other half. It was complete.</p><p>However. If your other half happened to pass away before you were wed, you were burdened with eternal life - in the hope your soul would find its second chance. Its second soulmate.</p><p>Isabella Woods was like every other young woman in 1943, searching for their other half, dedicating her life to find true love. Eventually, she found it in the form of James Buchanan Barnes and she was content, both of them falling further and further in love with each passing day they spent together. She even found a new friend in his best friend, Steve Rogers.</p><p>But then he fell from a moving train. And she felt it. She felt the exact moment he struck the ground and died. She had been working at the moment it happened, healing wounded soldiers and praying that Bucky wouldn't be the next unfortunate man to be wheeled in when she felt an excruciating pain in what she could explain only as her soul. She had let out a cry and collapsed where she stood, her mind whirling as nurses, soldiers and many other people surrounded her, trying to help.</p><p>When she finally realised what had happened, she had been inconsolable. It hadn't taken long for everyone else to also realise what happened and she was soon given a private room where she cried and screamed for hours, refusing to talk and ignoring the food that was left for her. When she thought back to that time, it was just a blur. The only thing she remembered was after the tears had stopped - when she was just numb. It felt like she sat there forever, staring at the wall when her door was thrown open. Isabelle had immediately turned to tell them to go away, the words halfway to her lips when she saw the crestfallen face of Steve Rogers, still in his uniform. He had obviously just run here, worried about her despite the fact that he had also just lost one of the most important people in his life.</p><p>Looking at someone's face, someone who was just as broken as she was, made Isabelle break down again. Hot tears poured down her cheeks as she stood up, running into her friend's arm. He was the only person she knew who could understand her pain and the only person who could help her get through it.</p><p>But then Steve died as well.</p><p>He sacrificed his life for everyone else, leaving her alone and depressed. That is until she met Peggy.</p><p>While she had seen Peggy around the base, they had never actually spoken before. They acknowledged each other with a smile or a nod of the head if they saw each other but they had never properly interacted until they a mutual reason to. They both mourned the loss of Steve - Peggy more so than Isabelle since she had found out that Steve wasn't her soulmate. She had felt no more than emotional pain when Steve had plummeted into the ice and the realisation that the man she loved wasn't the man she was intended to be with, crushed her. The two women relied on each other and they helped each other through their grief. Peggy had even convinced Colonel Phillips to assign Isabelle to the SSR along with her.</p><p>While Isabelle had had no experience with guns or fighting, Peggy had soon fixed that - even bringing in Howard Stark to give her a basic rundown on some of the more complicated weapons. Pretty soon, she found herself enjoying the training, happy that she could be of more use after the war. While healing soldiers had been helpful, she had seen enough gore and blood to put her off being a Nurse for the rest of her life.</p><p>Even after the training was finished and Isabelle had learnt all she could, it wasn't uncommon to find the three of them in a cafe for breakfast or even having a drink together in the evening. She had been asked many times if Peggy and herself fought over Howard's attention and it always made her laugh. While Howard was the biggest flirt she had ever met, the three of them were just really good friends. They couldn't be anything but friends seeing as Howard entertained a different woman every night and both Peggy and Isabelle were in love with men who were dead.</p><p>And that's how it always would be. At least for Isabelle. Peggy could heal and move on. Sure, Isabelle could move on as well but until she found her second soulmate she would outlive any relationship she might have.</p><p>So she was stuck, eternally in love and living with a dull pain that never went away.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>
    <strong>Monday, 16th of July 1979</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>"Hey, Auntie Izzy! Look at what I found!"</p><p>Isabelle closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself for the mess that would surely be presented to her when she turned around. Deciding to risk it, she slowly turned on her heel. When she saw what was in her godson's hands, she screamed and immediately ran to the other side of the room, much to the amusement of the boy.</p><p>"Anthony Stark! I did not work at the SSR and co find S.H.I.E.L.D just for you to wave a dead snake in my face! If your father saw this-"</p><p>"He wouldn't care. He's always at work anyway so he wouldn't even know."</p><p>Sighing, Izzy slowly walked over to him, gingerly picking up the snake that he held in his hands and throwing it in the bin. Taking him by the shoulders, she crouched down until she was looking him in the eyes, not surprised to see him looking straight back at her. Most kids would get uncomfortable with intense eye contact but Tony had never really been thrown by anything.</p><p>"Your dad loves you, Tony. He just doesn't know how to show it."</p><p>"No, he doesn't. He's always at work and doesn't care about me. And if he does bother talking to me, it's always about how he knew Captain America and how I '<em>should strive to be like him</em>.' As if I would want to be anything like the 'star-spangled man with a plan'. I bet he was an idiot anyway."</p><p>Tony looked at the floor as he spoke, dragging the top of his shoes against the carpet. Isabelle smiled sadly. Out of all of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D, she was the only one to take real breaks and spend time with Tony. Despite also being Tony's godmother, Peggy was mostly at work or with her own family. No one knew who Peggy's husband was, not even Izzy - her best friend, but they were all happy she had found love after Steve. They had, however, all met Peggy's children and Izzy and Howard were even godparents to her oldest child.</p><p>Izzy, however, had no family. While everyone else aged around her, she stayed looking the exact same as she did 34 years ago. Biologically, she was 58 - same as Peggy - but physically, she was still only 24. So she attached herself to Tony, taking over the absent hole where Howard should be as a parental figure. While Maria was a stable constant in Tony's life, Howard took her out dancing or for a meal, nearly every night of the week and Isabelle was always the only one available to babysit. So Tony had grown up with Isabelle tucking him and reading him a story every night and consequentially had formed a stronger bond with her than either of his parents.</p><p>"You know... I knew Captain America. Although, I knew him as Steve Rogers before he became a Captain of anything."</p><p>"Really? I suppose you think he's as perfect as my dad thinks he was?"</p><p>"Actually, Mr Smarty Pants, Steve was nowhere near perfect. He may have been injected with a serum that made him the perfect soldier but it did not make him a perfect man. His main flaw was his hero complex and his phobia of running away. Nearly killed himself multiple times because of it."</p><p>"So... he wasn't perfect?"</p><p>"Absolutely not. You don't have to be perfect either, Tony. You're going to do great things and I'll be right there beside you every step of the way... Oh, dear! Look at the time, you must be getting to bed before your parents get back or the <em>tickle monster's going to get you</em>!"</p><p>Tony squealed and ran out of the room, Isabelle chasing after him, their peals of laughter echoing around the otherwise empty house.</p><hr/><p>
  <span>
    <strong>Monday, 16th of December 1991</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>TRIGGER WARNING - GORE AND DEATH</span>
</p><p>"Howard, it looks like there should be a left coming up soon. You'll want to take that if you want to get there quickly."</p><p>"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Woods-"</p><p>Howard was cut off as the car jerked from behind, making him lose control of the steering. The car swerved for a second before it crashed into a large tree, all three of them thrown forwards at the impact. Howard and Maria got the worst of it, both of them hitting the dashboard whereas Isabelle only hit the soft material of the seat in front of her. The worst she would have was a concussion.</p><p>"Maria, Izzy- are you ok?"</p><p>"I'm fine, I just hit my head. I'm not sure about Maria though, she's bleeding pretty badl- Howard? Howard, stay in the car!"</p><p>"I can't - they're here for it. Please, not my wife - not Izzy. Leave them both alone."</p><p>He had only just gotten out of the car, lying on the ground - taking a moment to get some strength back, when a hand reached down and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him up. Izzy gasped and started banging on the window, yanking at the door handle only to realise it had been jammed in the crash. So she started screaming for the stranger to leave Howard alone as the man started punching her friend several times in the face, blood splurting out his nose until he went limp and fell to the ground. She burst out into tears, her hand sliding down the window as she watched the unknown man, his hair still covering his face, drag one of her oldest friends back into the car. Dead.</p><p>"Howard... Howa- Howard..."</p><p>"Maria - listen to me! Climb into the back now before he- Maria!"</p><p>But it was too late, the man had already gotten to Maria's side of the car and had wrapped his hand around her throat. Isabelle screamed again but this time she was able to do something. Dizziness washed over her as she moved forwards, the head injury deciding to set in at the worst time it possibly could, but she ignored it as she moved between the two front seats. Grabbing at the man's fingers, she tried to pry them off her friend's neck. When she realised that it wasn't working, she resorted to punching the man's arm as hard as she could, ignoring the splitting pain that took over her hands as she broke each finger one by one. She ignored the fact that Maria wasn't breathing anymore, continuing to throw punch after punch as she screamed and cried. Massive sobs racked her chest as she finally realised that both Maria and Howard were dead.</p><p>"FINE! Just kill me, then! If you're going to do it then get on with it!"</p><p>The man let go of Maria's neck, stepping away from her as walked back over to Isabelle's side of the car. He didn't even notice the door was jarred, simply ripping the whole door off and grabbing her by the neck. He lifted her up until she was at eye level with him, her feet dangling in the air. Refusing to look away from the man who was about to kill her, she blinked away her tears before looking straight into the face of the murderer.</p><p>His eyes were a piercing blue and he looked very familiar - as if she had seen him before. He looked like-.</p><p>"Bucky?!"</p><p>Both of their eyes widened as she said the name, his face contorting in confusion.</p><p>"Who the hell is Bucky?"</p><p>"You! You're Buc-!"</p><p>But Bucky had already swung his free fist back, punching her before she could even finish saying his name. Everything went black and the only thing she could ever remember about the car crash was a blur of silver flying towards her face.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>